


Sonic Trowel Digs and Other Stories

by ALC_Punk



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Audio: The Diary of River Song Series 03, F/F, F/M, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Some adventure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:41:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22747246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ALC_Punk/pseuds/ALC_Punk
Summary: A collection of River Song-centric ficlets and drabbles from the last couple of years. Some indirectly spoil canon, and the Diary of RS audios.
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/River Song, Leela/River Song
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Leaning heavily on the Diary of River Song series 5, this happens sometime after the episode detailed within such.

It was actually a fairly normal day for River Song. She was stuck in a tomb while some idiot made off with technology he couldn't _possibly_ handle, wishing that she'd managed to get off at least one S.O.S. to a friend or two, and trying to decide if the sonic trowel was still on working order, or if she'd be digging herself out by hand.

When there was a knock on the boulder over the entrance to the tomb, she put on her best Surprised-And-Grateful-You-Remembered-Me-Sweetie look, which disappeared quickly into exasperation as the tip of a parasol poked into the tomb followed by a fashionably-dressed woman.

If one were trawling the streets in Mayfair, Earth, in a certain era, at least.

"Oh, it's you."

Raising one hand, the faux-Mary Poppins waggled her finger. "Now, is that any way to greet your rescue party, Rivs? I might just decide to turn back around and leave you to die."

"You could. I wouldn't die, but you could," suggested River, her tone somewhat hopeful.

"Oh, pshaw. As if I could do that." Twirling her parasol, Missy glided closer to River, leaning up against the wall she was chained to. "Oh, this has possibilities."

"Does it."

"Mm. D'you know, I always wondered what the Doctor saw in you. Not much higher than Miss Clara, after all, and yet..."

Twisting her hand, River yanked it free, having worked the mechanism as Missy was walking towards her. "And I always wondered how he could forget you for such long stretches of time."

"I am rather memorable," Missy agreed cheerfully. She tipped her head to the side. "You're not, of course. I mean outside of the time distortion that leaks off of you, you're barely a speck."

"You say such sweet things, darling." Checking she had all of her gear, River slung the pack over her shoulder, and nodded to the doorway. "Shall we?"

"Oh, did you want me along, Rivs? An outing with just the girls? How quaint."

"You don't want that idiot to escape with the sub-meson wave generator anymore than I do." Heading towards the doorway, she called over her shoulder, "After all, Gallifreyan tech in the wrong hands... well, that's just asking for trouble."

"Rivs--you do remember I _like_ trouble?"

"Stop calling me that. And yes. Now shut up while I track him."


	2. 2: River/Eleven, post Diary of RS 3 angst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> River recovers from the losses and gains of the recent discovery of her other siblings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted to write something longer, but I ended up hitting a large wall and gave up. This goes in the ficlet collection.

River stood on the balcony, staring out over the skyline but not really seeing it. A part of her knew that it was a cliche to be standing on a balcony, feeling awful.

But she was still reeling over the recent revelations. The things she hadn't wanted to know, the people she hadn't wanted to kill. Brooke, _Lake_ , H2, O... Even H, for the brief moment she'd met her. Tarn. All of the others that she had no chance to meet, to rescue.

Her parents were lost forever to her now, trapped in a past she couldn't follow them to. Living a life she can only read about now.

Siblings... would have been a comfort.

"River?" His voice came from behind her, that slightly desperate tone telling her he was failing and needed her. Again.

Boxing it all away, River straightened and pasted on the self-confidence and daredevil woman he expected. She turned away from the skyline and took in the scene before her at a glance. "Hello, Sweetie. Need some help?"

And he smiled at her, his eyes shadowed as though he knew she was lying. But he didn't like endings and he never wanted to look beneath the surfaces, this one.

Not if he didn't have to.

"I could, yes. If you're not too... busy?"

"Oh, sweetie, I'm never too busy for you," she teased, her tone light and fluffy. "After all, if I insist on you always being there for me, I should do the same for you."

"That's what marriage is. Amy told me," he agreed, beaming a smile at her that warmed her inside and out.

It made everything just a little better. She grabbed his hand and leaned up against him for a moment, then stepped back. "Now. Lay on, MacDuff."


	3. 3: River, Amy; motherhood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief conversation with her mother causes some consternation.

"Daughter."

"Mother." River raised an eyebrow. Her mother was sounding terribly formal. Even if, in this era, she was physically beginning to show her age and quite possibly could be considered older than River, it wasn't the sort of tone she was used to.

"So." Crossing her arms, Amy raised her brows. "You've made me a grandmother."

"I--what?"

Coming in from the kitchen with the tea things, her father sighed. "We were going to check where she was, Amy." Tossing River an abashed look, he murmured, "Spoilers?"

Eyes wide, River looked between her father and her mother, then back, trying to muster something blase and breezy. "It hasn't happened yet, no."

Her voice was strangely choked. She didn't have to ask who; she doubted she actually wanted to know. And yet...

Spoilers, indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really just love the whole conceit of them calling each other "mother" and "daughter". idk. It's delightful.


	4. 4: River/Leela, Melancholy Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In theory, one should never trust a Song.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one sort of technically has spoilers for the Eighth of March set from 2019. There really is a lovely amount of flirting in that episode.

"I should not have listened to you."

"This time, perhaps." River Song winked at Leela of the Sevateem, where she was sprawled and tied neatly to the bed frame. "But you have to admit, you did enjoy yourself."

Leela raised both her eyebrows and gave River a sardonic look. "As did you."

"Well." Stepping closer, lipstick refreshed, River leant down and brushed her mouth against Leela's. "I always did appreciate the wild side, darling."

Annoyed beyond measure, Leela struggled against her bonds as a sleepiness washed through her. "Will I remember this?" she mumbled as her head began to loll backwards.

There was regret in River's voice. "I'm afraid not."

"Then it is a pity..."

"Yes," River murmured into the silence of the room, mouth turned down as she looked at Leela. There would be no respite from the things she would remember, herself. She closed her eyes and turned to go. The destruction of Gallifrey was always inevitable.

 _He'd_ guaranteed that.


	5. River/Eleven, remembering Hollywood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> River and Eleven reminisce over their various adventures in Hollywood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written, if memory serves, as an example of pushing writing style into way OTT proportions. It's entirely too smug for its own good, tbh.

"Have we done Christmas in Hollywood?"

"Mmm. Saw Marilyn, too," River replies, something sly in her tone.

The Doctor shifts, a little uncomfortable. "Yes, well, it was quite nice to see her. I suppose."

"Shouldn't it have been? After all, you married her, sweetie," River says, her tone shifting to both breezy as well as the aforementioned sly. "Of course, marriage is really not my raison d'etre, after you."

In reply, the Doctor's face screws up in annoyance. "You've had Marilyn?"

"Mm." Chuckling delightedly, she continues, finger tracing one line on the page of her diary. "Of course, Jean--she let me call her Jean, did she let you?--was wonderfully passionate and giving."

The face twists a little further.

Leaning into him, River murmurs, "Did you get that far with her, or was it all awkward flailing and kisses?"

"Yes--no--River, this is highly inappropriate!"

"I know. Isn't it always?" With a saucy wink, she stands and sashays towards the door. "Now, if we're done, I've things to catch and people to do."

"But I thought--"

She turns and looks at him, one side of her mouth pulling upwards. "It's adorable when you do that, did you know?"

"Daleks," he blurts. "And Ogrons. On Calexa Prime--we need to sort it."

"Sort it yourself, sweetie." For a moment, her face flickers into something oddly serious. As though she's remembered something. She'll get better at that, he knows. Eventually, he won't be able to read her at all. "I'm afraid this one is all yours. Be sure to say hi for me, though."

And just like that, she's gone again.

Sometimes, he wonders if it's to remind him how others feel.


	6. River/Eleven, Human Sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Human sacrifice is always a complicated business to be rescued from.

The spray from the waves was beginning to get a little chilly, River reflected. Being tied to a sacrificial rock wasn't exactly what she would have gone with, originally... But it could have been so much worse.

"This is a bad plan."

On the other hand...

"You've said that already," replied River as she shifted a bit to ease a cramp. Difficult with the chains on her wrists, of course. From behind her, she heard the Doctor's scowl, as though she could see it. "You know this is the only way."

"It's a horrible, no-good, very-bad," he started in that obnoxious 'I know better than everyone' way he sometimes got stuck in when he was sulky.

There were years where she rather missed his earlier incarnations. More than a few had been far more adult than now, even when she'd been conning them into believing any number of false identities or drugging them with lipstick and tea. Now, those had been good days—if she weren't far more conscientious than many gave her credit for, she might even consider revisiting them.

She could tell he was going to enumerate a large plethora of disparagement against the whole endeavor if she didn't stop him. Tilting her head back, River considered the cliffs above, and spotted the movement from their quarry that the Doctor's continued rant had attracted.

Perhaps she should let him continue. It was only so often he was menaced by a dragon, after all. And she did think she looked rather fetching in her sacrificial white dress.

Even if she certainly couldn't play the virgin portion of the requirement.


	7. River Song has always known the angels...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> River Song has always known the fate of her parents, as sure as she's known her own.

She has always known this would happen, lurking in the back of her mind are memories she only takes out on hideous days with no end in sight. The possibility that they would die had never crossed her thoughts, not once she'd worked it out.

Standing there, watching Amy stare at the angel, River _knows_ that this will devastate her either way.

In the mansion, she'd told Amy that the Doctor didn't like endings. And, oh, he surely doesn't. But neither does she (so very alike in too many ways, they are; it's why they would never make it in constant companionship). Endings don't mean beginnings the way they do to most people.

They just mean death.

Should Amy stay, the childhood that River is now struggling to remember will never occur (for an instant, there's a bleak existence with a man who never forgave her husband for not rescuing him). Should she go, there will be no more visits here in current temporal time. Too many paradoxes for her to count won't prevent her from visiting in the past. She'll just have to be careful.

But _he_ will grieve, and while River will comfort him as best she can, she is not her mother. There will be no going back from this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It always confuses me, when I realize that I've ended up propping up the Doctor more than River. In some ways, he's the one who needs more reassurance, more often (he never has liked endings, no matter her incarnation)


	8. River Song meets Bernice Summerfield (AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> River Song meets Bernice Summerfield in a world and universe that is not quite the same as ours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not even entirely sure when I wrote this, probably years ago and there it languished. It is no longer canon given Big Finish's recent multi-character anniversary bit. And as much as I enjoyed that one, I like to imagine this happened as well. Just out of sync with our reality.

"You must be Bernice Summerfield."

Benny turned and took in the blonde woman with reddish highlights, and a smile that reached her eyes. It was a little smug, but Benny could understand that. She'd certainly worn its twin on more than one occasion. "And you must be River Song. I've heard a lot about you."

And she had. The rather annoying, but cute, one had shown up on her doorstep one evening (it had been a long day of essays and brandy, truth to tell), complaining about a woman who knew too much, and threw around words like 'spoilers' at him. He'd been very obviously out of his depth, not to mention, annoyed.

It hadn't taken Benny long to cut to the heart of the matter. "You're just jealous that someone knows more than you."

"Well, for once," he'd admitted, before going off on some tangent about time and how he hated being boxed.

She'd tuned him out for a while, letting him spout on and on until he'd run down again, then suggested he buy her a pint. Or two. By the time the evening had ended, he was well on his way to being sanguine, and Benny was making a post-it-note or two addition to her diary.

The smile on River's face widened, "I shouldn't be surprised."

"Never. I'd be devastated if you were." Holding out a hand, Benny grinned, "Would you like a pint?"

"Just as soon as we've saved the universe." Was River's calm reply.

Before Benny could ask more, she found River gripping her hand, and the world going very bright. Bernice made a note to herself to ask for a raised the next time she returned to Dellah.


End file.
